Balwant Gargi
| Balwant Gargi | |
|---|---|
| Born |
4 December 1916 Bathinda, Punjab |
| Died | 22 April 2003 (aged 86) Mumbai |
Balwant Gargi (4 December 1916 – 22 April 2003) (Punjabi: ਬਲਵੰਤ ਗਾਰਗੀ, Balwant Gārgi, Hindi: बलवंत गार्गी, Balwant Gārgi) was a renowned Punjabi language dramatist, theatre director, novelist, and short story writer, and academic.
On 4 December 1916 in Neeta Khandan in Bathinda (Punjab), Balwant Gargi was born in a house in the Neeta Mal street, near the 1800-year-old historical Gobind Fort, famous for being the spot where Razia Sultan was imprisoned. The second son in the family of Shiv Chand, a Head Clerk in the Irrigation Department, he would go on create history in the world of Indian and Punjabi literature.
Gargi studied at Government College Lahore, and completed his M.A.(English) and M.A.(Political Science) from FC College in Lahore. He also studied theatre with Norah Richards at her school in Kangra Valley.
Gargi wrote several plays, including Loha Kutt, Kesro, Kanak Di Balli, Sohni Mahiwal, Sultan Razia, Soukan, Mirza Sahiba and Dhooni di Agg and short stories Mircha Wala Sadh, Pattan di Berhi and Kuari Disi. His plays were translated into 12 languages, and have been performed around the world, including Moscow, London, New Delhi and around the United States.
Gargi's first play, Loha kutt (English: Blacksmith) in 1944 became controversial for its stark picture of the Punjab countryside. At that juncture, he focused on poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, and superstition marking rural life, which continued in Saelpathar (English: Petrified Stone) in 1949, Navan mudh (English: New Beginning) in 1950, and Ghugi (English: Dove) in 1950. In the 1950 edition of Loha kutt, he resorted to drawing poetic and dramatic elements from J. M. Synge and Garcia Lorca. In subsequent works like Kanak di balli (English: Stalk of Wheat) in 1968 and Dhuni di agg (English: Fire in the Furnace) in 1977, these became his chief vehicles. For all the specificity of native locale, the former deflected as much towards Lorca's Blood Wedding as the latter reminded one of Yerma. In Mirza-Sahiban in 1976, customs and conventions came in for bitter censure. Gradually, Gargi's preoccupation with sex, violence, and death became almost an obsession. Antonin Artaud`s theatre of cruelty grew into his categorical imperative. This required his dramaturgy to proceed through mythopoeia, which turns explicit in his last plays.
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